Chapter 3:
Society and Culture in Provincial America
The AP instructional strategies discussed below for Chapter 3 of American History: A Survey focus especially, but not
exclusively, on the following themes developed by the AP U.S. History Development Committee: American Diversity,
American Identity, Culture, Religion, Demographic Changes, Religion, Slavery and Its Legacies in North America, and
War and Diplomacy. This chapter, as well as the primary documents selected below, follow the content guidelines
suggested for the third topic in the AP Topic Outline  Colonial North America, 16901754.
TopTen Analytical Journal.
Defining the chapter terms in their journals will help students better understand:
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The disagreement among historians concerning the origins of slavery.
The sources of colonial labor, including indentured servants, women, and imported Africans.
Immigration patterns and their effect on colonial development.
The ways in which factors of soil and climate determined the commercial and agricultural development of the
colonies.
The emergence of the plantation system, and its impact on southern society.
The New England witchcraft episode as a reflection of the Puritan society.
The reasons for the appearance of a variety of religious sects in the colonies, and the effect of the Great
Awakening on the colonists.
The beginnings of colonial industry and commerce, and the early attempts at regulation by Parliament.
Each of the terms below contributes to a comprehensive understanding of how a distinct American society and culture
began to develop in the British colonies. As your students define these terms, encourage them to demonstrate why
each person, event, concept, or issue is important to a thorough understanding of this chapter.
Indenture system
Birth and death rates
Midwives
Patriarchal society
Middle Passage
Royal African Company of England
Slave codes
Palatinate Germans
Huguenots
Scotch-Irish
Catholics
Iron Act of 1750
Triangular trade
Consumerism
Plantation economy
Plantation slavery
Gullah
Stono Rebellion
Puritan community
Primogeniture
Salem witch trials
The Great Awakening
Enlightenment
Almanacs
Literacy rates
Harvard
Benjamin Franklin
Cotton Mather
Smallpox inoculation
John Peter Zenger
Getting students started on their journals. Remind students that they must analyze and synthesize their
understanding of these terms in two ways:
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by creating “Top-Ten” lists of their own within their journals at the end of each chapter; and
by justifying in their journal why their terms are essential to an understanding of “Society and Culture in
Provincial America.”
Journal entry example. Following is an example of how students might describe the “Iron Act of 1750” and its
importance to an overall understanding of “Society and Culture in Provincial America.”
Iron Act of 1750. This act restricted metal processing in the colonies. This, and other prohibitions, limited the
manufacture of goods in America and discouraged industrialization in the British colonies. Consequently, the
colonies relied more upon extractive industries that exported timber, minerals, and fish to England in exchange
for manufactured goods.
Era 1: “Transplantation and Adaptation to the ‘New World’” Assignment. Because the students have completed
the first historical era in their book by reading Chapters 13, it is time to come together as a class to synthesize
individual student lists into the first class “Top-Ten” list. The night before this discussion takes place, assign the
following for homework:
Journal Assignment. Examine the 10 terms for each chapter that you have previously identified as necessary to a
complete understanding for Chapters 13 in the textbook. Then, narrow down your list to a total of ten terms that
best describe the era. Be prepared to justify your choices in class tomorrow.
Free-Response Questions.
1. Although New England and the Chesapeake regions were both settled largely by people of English origin, by 1700
the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. Analyze the ways in which this development occurred.
(Adapted from the 1993 AP United States History DBQ)
2. Analyze the extent to which religious freedom existed in British North American colonies prior to 1700. (1998 AP
U.S. History free-response question)
3. Was American society becoming more “democratic” in the period from 1750’s to the 1780’s? Discuss with
reference to property distribution, social structure, politics, and religion. (1976 AP U.S. History DBQ)